"There was a time not so long ago when pigs were afforded no respect, except by other pigs. They lived their whole lives in a cruel and sunless world. In those days pigs believed that the sooner they grew large and fat, the sooner they'd be taken to Pig Paradise, a place so wonderful that no pig had ever thought to come back." - Film Babe

Excerpt from “In the Company of Animals” by James Serpell -Research associate in animal behaviour at the University of Cambridge continued from page 1

.This kind of hard-nosed, economic attitude to the exploitation of domestic animals is a simple and straightforward one, and it is one that is tacitly endorsed by the majority of people in the Western world. Humans have a right to eat meat; farmers have a duty to supply this demand as cheaply as possible; animals inevitably suffer as a consequence. Why complicate the issue with imponderable questions about the morality of it all?

Some 5.3 million piglets are born and raised for pork, ham and bacon products each year in Australia (60 million annually in the US). Only a small portion (some 5%) of pigs are born and raised in ‘free range’ conditions. Unless labeled ‘free-range or ‘organic’, pigmeat products at a butchers or supermarket will be from factory farmed pigs. This means that these pigs will never have access to the outdoors - never feeling the grass beneath their feet or the sunlight on their backs, except for the day they are sent for slaughter. The breeding sows and boars are usually kept their entire life on cold cement or standing on slatted metal flooring (without access to bedding of any kind) and kept in solitary confinement in tiny stalls behind metal bars for the duration of their productive years, until slaughter.

Publishers Note: Intensive farming is obviously designed with massive profit, not animal welfare, in mind. For those who cannot picture themselves opting for the vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, there is a more humane option than intensive farming. Instead of choosing factory-farmed meat, opt for the free-range pig. The following article from Choice Magazine outlines the free-range pig industry.

Nobody in their right mind would consider the existence of the modern domestic pig a pleasant one. But for those who engage in factory farming or benefit from its produce, this kind of callous and brutal treatment is easily justified. Like many other species on this planet, humans like to eat meat, and they are prepared to kill and inflict a certain amount of suffering on other animals in order to indulge in this preference. The actual methods employed may vary from species to species but the basic principle remains the same: maximize productivity; minimize costs. From start to finish, modern agribusiness is based on this simple industrial formula. The pig breeder aims to produce the largest number of weaners per sow per annum, the growers seeks to get his pigs to slaughtering weight in the shortest possible time, the transporter wants the animals loaded and delivered with the minimum delays, and the slaughterman is chiefly concerned with increasing the rate at which he can kill and butcher the pigs that arrive at his abattoir. And at the end of the chain stands the spectre of the voracious consumer, who is solely interested in buying the highest quality meat and bacon for the lowest possible price. The fact that this principle also ensures that the livestock involved are subjected to a lifetime of continual deprivation, distress and discomfort seems to be largely irrelevant; merely an unfortunate by-product of the harsh, economic necessities of life. And the minority of people who display genuine moral concern for the welfare of farm animals often seem to be regarded as either stupid, sentimental or just plain crazy.

Intensively farmed pig left to die on the uncomfortable slatted floor.

No room to move, ever... until the crowded, painful last journey to its death.

After a horrific life of suffering, its' only journey - a crowded, painful journey, to a place smelling and sounding of fear and danger. A hook jabbed into its leg, squealing in agony and fear as it hangs upside down on the conveyor bleeding, then reaching the end of the conveyor belt, its throat cut and thrown into a vat of boiling water.A ghastly life with a ghastly end.

Scroll down to view two happy pig videos and read about Free-Range pigs.

Good News Pig Video below! Piglet escapes notorious pig farm, rescued, and living a happy safe life. Check out the video to watch Jigsaw enjoying his wonderful life!.

The Free-Range Pig

While animals in the intensively farmed system are pumped full of antibiotics and drugs (to accelerate growth and deal with health issues due to excessive stress) and hormones to increase weaner production; free-range pigs are usually healthier, and when allowed access to the open air, a wallow and sunlight, happier.

From “Choice Magazine” article

-Free-range meat is currently short on definitions and standards, but there are a few labels you can look for to get the best guarantee you’re getting what you’re paying for.

-The Humane Society International’s new Humane Choice label will be worth looking for when it becomes available in mid 2007..

Free-range can mean a variety of things — the only common bottom line is that, as for all meat production, the general welfare requirements under state-based animal welfare acts and codes must be met. Free-range animals, just by dictionary definition, shouldn’t be closely confined and will have some sort of outside access, but it doesn’t necessarily guarantee animals an old-MacDonald-like experience of wandering through a farmyard of green grass and shady trees RSPCA endorsement for certified organic free-range pigs. The RSPCA recently extended its endorsement program to cover pig farming and you’ll now see some brands of pork — such as OTWAY — carrying the RSPCA logo. This means the brand conforms with the RSPCA’s standards and sends monthly reports to the RSPCA as well as receiving six-monthly RSPCA inspections..

The RSPCA pig standards ban the use of farrowing crates and sow stalls, and while the sows have outdoor access the piglets, once weaned, don’t join their parents outdoors — they’re kept in open straw-based huts, which are open to the air at the sides, but which don’t allow the pigs to go outside.

Are there welfare problems with the alternatives? An RIRDC paper entitled ‘Developing Free-range Animal Production Systems’ discusses the welfare attributes of free-range pig farming and cites a number of studies which concluded that: • allowing pigs to forage on pastures is particularly suited to the pig’s natural behaviour and also improved carcass composition and health • despite high temperatures during a study by Glatz and Ru no pig performed abnormally • pigs did not suffer from sunburn being protected by a coat of mud on the skin from the wallow • experience in Tasmania with free range pigs suggests no additional health problems and the free-range pigs ‘have a reputation for robustness…’ • free-range reared pigs are calmer and less aggressive • access to bedding and roughage for outdoor pigs meant they spent more time foraging and less time on tail biting and other stereotypic behaviours (than indoor pigs), and • free-range sows have a better nursing capability..

The financial costs:

Dr Suzanne Pope, in her report ‘Critical Pathways in Welfare for the Pig’ makes the case that well-run less intensive methods of pig production can compete economically with the typical close confinement facilities. The costs of switching to group housing will depend upon both the current system (its age and configuration) and the new system chosen. The EU Scientific Veterinary Committee (SCV) report (1997) compared the veterinary costs of an Electronic Sow Feeder (to ensure individually monitored volumes) to sow stalls and concluded that ‘total investment per sow decreases for the group housing system’ since ‘… expensive crates [stalls] are not needed anymore’. Using the SVC scenario the actual profit margin of the model led to an 8% increase in income. A paper by Turner in 2000 estimated that changing from stalls to group housing with straw would add only a minimal amount (approx. 5 cents/kg) to the cost of producing pig meat, and less if the straw delivery was automated and the sows consumed the straw (as is common), thus reducing or eliminating manual removal costs.

In Australia, some research is underway on the productivity (piglet survival at weaning per sow) of sows kept in eco-shelters during pregnancy (QAF at Corowa) and some piggeries have already established this system. A number of piggeries in Australia have already expanded their operations by housing large groups of pregnant sows in litter-based shelters. Two piggery operators who reported at a symposium in 2001, have individual feeding stalls and provide additional straw bales. They house sows at between 3 – 5.5sq m/sow. These new sheds have operated since 2000, and although comparisons will be confounded by factors such as disease, and climate, these sheds reported in early 2001 achieving a level of reproductive performance similar to the industry average.

A study by Frey of Portec Australia examined performance records of 45 Australian pig herds representing 11% of the Australian herd over 3 years to February 2003. Frey concluded ‘Results of this comparison [of stalled, grouped (indoor pigs) and outdoor (free range) pig herds] provide a good indication that, where management and stockmanship are good, the productivity of alternate housing systems can compete with and exceed that of conventional confinement housing for sows with compromising sow welfare.’.

European DevelopmentsIn June 2001, European Agriculture Ministers adopted new rules for the protection of pigs. The EU Directive occurred only after a comprehensive review of the science by the Scientific Veterinary Committee (see Endnote 3), and then consideration by the European Commission which concluded that sow stalls ‘are causing serious welfare problems to the animals’. The resulting Directive bans the keeping of sows (other than for the first 4 weeks of pregnancy) by 2013 on existing farms (and 2003 on new facilities) in all 15 EU countries. Those countries collectively represent a pig industry of some 15 million sows. The EU has agreed on a legally binding protocol to its founding Treaty that recognises animals as sentient beings rather than just ‘agricultural products’.

Several EU countries have already passed national legislation on a unilateral basis banning sow stalls (completely) ahead of the EU restrictions. Bans are already in force in Sweden (since 1994) and in the United Kingdom (since 1999). Finland will ban them from this year (2006), Switzerland in 2007, and The Netherlands’ total ban commences in 2008.

Other aspects of the Directive will assist pig welfare, including some increase in space allowance when in groups, permanent access to manipulable material (e.g. straw), and sufficient high fibre foods to satisfy their hunger and need to chew. Further reviews of the EU Directive are planned and will include reports designed to reduce the need for castration, and findings on tail biting, stocking densities and farrowing crates.

Public opinion

New Zealand, European and Australian surveys have revealed great public concern about pig welfare.

NZ: A Colmar Brunton Poll conducted in New Zealand revealed that 86% of those people surveyed believed that keeping pigs in sow stalls was unacceptable, with 87% wanting a ban by 2006. Prior to the poll, there were over 20,000 submissions to the NZ government supporting a ban..

"The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men."- Alice Walker

."I heard the screams of my father as cancer ravaged his body, and then I realised I had heard those screams before - in slaughterhouses, in the dog meat markets, in cattle ships, and the dying mother whale as a harpoon explodes in her brain as she calls out to her calf. Their cries are the cries of my father. And I realised that when we suffer, we suffer as equals."Philip Wollen OAM, The Winsome Constance Kindness Trust, AU

"One day the absurdity of the almost universal human belief in the slavery of other animals will be palpable. We shall then have discovered our souls and become worthier of sharing this planet with them." - Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.

."I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men." - Leonardo da Vinci.

Europe: The 'European Coalition for Farm Animals' and 'Compassion in World Farming' jointly commissioned opinion polls in seven countries - Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Portugal in 2001. They polls found that a large majority of people considered sow stalls to be cruel (average: 85%) and wanted the practice banned (84%). 84% of respondents indicated that they were willing to pay more for pigmeat if the pigs were not kept in stalls.

Australia: In 2000, Meat and Livestock Australia commissioned The Roy Morgan Research Centre to conduct a survey on public perceptions of animal welfare. The survey revealed that the importance of animal welfare and cruelty to animals as a social issue increased from 29% to 54% since 1994 and that the keeping of pigs in pens was one of the top three farming practices with which respondents disagreed.

The use of shelters, mud wallows and fogger systems reduce core temperatures of the free-range pigs and enable them to ‘perform very well’ even in summer temperatures exceeding 35 degrees C (Glatz and Ru, ‘Developing Free-range Animal Production Systems’ December 2004 – Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation RIRDC Publication No 04/058).

In Tasmania the temperate climate is ideally suited to extensive pig farming [Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment, Tasmania, industry profile], and ‘Experience in Tasmania with free-range pigs, compared with the intensive production system, suggests no additional health problems, particularly with regard to pneumonia. In fact, free range pigs have a reputation for robustness and ease of adaptation to new environments’ [from Glatz and Ru 2004].

Independent position

The UK government (not radical extremists) has banned sow stalls based on scientific evidence of suffering. Similarly after an extensive review of the welfare implications of sow stalls by the highly respected and independent European Union Scientific Veterinary Committee, the EU is to phase out sow stalls on welfare grounds. Sweden has already banned sow stalls on the grounds of animal welfare, and other countries are phasing them out, for example, a European Directive passed in 2001 will lead to a ban (other than for four weeks of a pregnancy) in all 15 European countries by 2013.

Publishers Note: Despite the option to purchase non-factory-farmed animals, many people have chosen to become vegetarians and vegans, because no matter how an animal is treated during the farming process, these animals will be sent to a slaughterhouse, many as babies under six months of age, slaughtered using a variety of horrendous methods.

Scroll down to view videos on the treatment of pigs and other animals by the meat industry. W Page 1...Page 3

.Slaughterhouse in New South Wales, Australia, has been closed due to discovering that workers were perpetrating acts of gross cruelty towards the animals prior to slaughter, and killing them in barbaric ways outside the stipulated means of slaughter. Beware that the footage below contains extremely graphic and upsetting images..

.Workers at a farm supplying supermarkets found killing pigs in barbaric ways and laughing about it. The footage below contains graphic images on the above topic..